Paging Mr. McCartney

A music teacher would like to make a copy of the song “Eleanor Rigby” and have it copied onto 30 CDs to use with his music students. Is that legal?
–Susan Wainio, librarian, Dodd Middle School, Cheshire, CT

One could argue that this use is fair if the copies are exclusively for curriculum purposes. I would also make it clear to the students that the CDs should not be duplicated or distributed outside of the classroom. Labeling each CD with a copyright warning would be a good idea. Since librarians should make as few unauthorized copies as possible (and then only when it’s absolutely necessary to meet the teaching objectives), I wonder if there might be an alternative to making 30 copies. For example, could the song be played in the classroom rather than making a copy for each student? Could students check out a copy of the song to use in a classroom lab? Could the song be transmitted to students at a specific time at a password-protected Web site? Sometimes it is necessary to make numerous copies, but before you do that, first evaluate all of the options with the music instructor.

I have a 1943 edition of the book Atlas of American History, edited by James Truslow Adams. Our social studies teachers would like to make multiple copies of some of the maps that are in the book. Has the copyright for this book expired?
–Tim Ramsey, media specialist, Singapore American School-Intermediate Division, Singapore

It is possible that the copyright has expired for the book or that the various maps within the book are not protected by copyright even though it was published after 1923. Examine the book closely. If it doesn’t have a copyright notice, the book is in the public domain. The reason for this is that the law used to require that a copyright notice be placed on works published between 1923 and 1977. This is no longer the case. Works created today do not require a copyright notice or a copyright registration with the U.S. Copyright Office to gain copyright protection. They are protected automatically.

Because the term for copyright has changed frequently over the history of U.S. copyright law and the requirements for copyright protection have also changed, I highly recommend that librarians, media specialists, and instructors keep a chart of copyright terms at their desks. I cannot live without mine. Peter Hirtle, the intellectual property officer for the Cornell University Library, has created one of the best, and it’s available at www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm.

If the book is protected, have a look at the source for the maps themselves. Perhaps they were published by a federal government agency and are in the public domain. Remember that public domain works can be found in copyrighted books; in this case, maps in books. Their public domain status does not change when they are republished.

We plan to use an image of Clifford the Big Red Dog’s eye for our Web page’s link buttons. We acquired the image by digitally photographing a 60-pound stuffed replica in our library—not by taking the image from a published source. Do you see a problem with that? I have not contacted the author or Scholastic, from whom we purchased our dog four years ago.
–Betty Carpenter, library media specialist, L.V. Denti Elementary School, Rome, NY

This is one of those questions that has more than one answer. Because you took a photograph of the dog, you hold the copyright to the photograph. That means the photo is your original work, and you can use it. I’m not familiar with Clifford, so I need to ask a question that will probably complicate matters. Is the eye portion immediately recognizable as Clifford the dog’s? If Clifford is known for “those eyes,” this may be a trademark question. Are the eyes the “mark” of the cartoon character or Clifford’s “selling” point? If this is the case, then you probably should not use the eye for your library’s Web site links.